Burlington Inclusivity Advisory Committee Meeting

Minutes

Meeting #:
Date:
Time:
-
Location:
3800 Constable Henshaw Blvd. (Halton Regional Police Services)

1.
Members Present:

Maroun Naser (Chair), Kumkum Bhandari (Burlington Public Library), Jim Young, Doug Martin, Rana Al Semaani, Roy La Chappelle The meeting proceeded without quorum and was limited to discussion and information sharing.

2.
Others Present:

Georgie Gartside (Clerk)

3.
Regrets:

Councillor Blair Lancaster, Mary Lou Tanner (Deputy City Manager), Kate Dunn, Eric Schwab, Ron Baliko (BAAC), Colin Kilfeather (Halton Police), Girish Parekh

4.
Declarations of Interest:

None.

5.
Approval of Minutes:

6.
Delegation(s):

None.

7.
Regular Items:

7.1
Welcome and Resignations

Georgie shared that Sgt. Colin Kilfeather will replace Stephen Siomra as the Halton Regional Police Service representative.

Maroun advised that Brian Wrixon and Farah Butt have resigned from the committee.

7.2
Library Speaker/Program Suggestions

Kumkum shared that the library has started working on its spring guide for March - May. This is a good opportunity for BIAC to partner with the library. Anyone with suggestions about any cultural events or programs related to newcomer issues or inclusivity/diversity, let Kumkum know.  The library is also interested in programming that ties into significant days between March and May (i.e. Women’s History Month, Asian Heritage Month, Transgender Day of Visibility, National Dance Week, International Dance Day, Autism Awareness, Ramadan, Holi - festival of colours, etc.)

7.3
Event updates

Canada Day - Rana and Doug said the Canada Day table was successful. Positive feedback was provided by visitors to the table and the kids enjoyed the bracelets. Rana will compile the feedback received on the post-it notes.

Culture Days, Sept. 29 - Roy shared that the BIAC table was on the second level of BPAC so there wasn't much traffic. Would like to participate again next year in a higher traffic location.

7.4
Staff Training

Burlington Leadership Team, June 21 - Georgie shared that good feedback was received from the leadership team and people managers about Brian's facilitation of the Unconscious Bias training module. Rana also attended the facilitation and said the group participated in an exercise to determine how they could take the training back and incorporate it within their departments.

Roads, Parks & Forestry Department, Oct. 18 - Rana shared that there was a different audience on Oct. 18 than at the June 21 facilitation and not as much time was allocated. Moving forward, it will be important for BIAC to know its audience and adjust the presentation/facilitation accordingly.

The committee discussed having a standard presentation for future events that would include a message about the purpose of BIAC, along with a staff training piece using the developed modules.

Doug, Rana, Kumkum and Jim volunteered to work on developing a standard presentation for two of the training modules and will present them at a future meeting for approval.

7.5
Roundtable Updates

a.
Burlington Accessibility Advisory Committee

No report.

b.
Burlington Seniors' Advisory Committee

Jim shared that age and socioeconomic discrimination happens to seniors in Burlington and it will be good for BSAC and BIAC to work together on these issues.

c.
Halton Police

No report.

d.
Burlington Public Library

Kumkum shared that Burlington Public Library participated in Culture Days. There were more than 400 attendees at the various programs that took place at library branches.

e.
Taskforce on Anti-Bullying/Harassment

No report.

f.
Other

Doug advised that he is on the board of Halton Poverty Roundtable and has been involved with Voices for Change, a group sponsored by Halton Community Legal Services. The group will be part of a rally in Toronto to raise awareness as the government looks to cut seniors' pensions and other programs.

Kumkum attended the Halton Equity & Diversity Roundtable conference. Islam phobia was the focus and their were about 120 attendees.

8.
Other Business:

8.1
Recruitment for Citizen Committees

Georgie advised that:

  • recruitment has begun for citizen committees;
  • deadline for applications is November 23;
  • members whose first term expires at the end of this year will need to re-apply if interested in continuing;
  • new chair to be elected in January. Interested members need to have someone nominate them.

8.2
December Social

Georgie to make reservations for lunch on Dec. 14 and details will be emailed out to members.

9.
Adjournment: 11:02 a.m.

No Item Selected